August 23, 2013

:: summer fun ::

Thank you to everyone who left a comment about my pattern All Geared Up. It was fun to hear everyone's preferences for applique..... and how many just stay clear of it. My preference has always been to use freezer paper on the reverse side to turn the edges under, then hand stitch the piece, but I have to admit that I have recently been trying and researching other methods and found a couple that I really like. Maybe someday I'll get around to doing a post about applique methods. But not today.....

First, I need to let Tami know that she is the winner of the All Geared Up pattern! This is what she said about applique:

"I use both fusible web & the Karen Buckley method of applique depending on what kind of project I'm doing. I just have never gotten the knack of needle turning. I love your patterns and fabric. Just my style. :) "

Thanks Tami! I will be getting in touch with you so that I can get your address and send you the pattern.

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Now, I said that I would show you my new patterns, so here is another one. After I finished All Geared Up, I had all these leftover pieces from the background. (See a post on that pettern here)

And I thought..... Petals!

So I used all of them to make these flowers....

Because they were all the same fabric, I added a narrow piping around each petal. A very simple technique which finishes the edge of the applique piece without having to apply fusible web or needle turn the edges under. AND, it separates the petals! There were enough to make three of these big flowers, which then became a bed runner. This was made using the leftovers from the cover quilt of All Geared Up and the Around Town fabrics.

And of course, there were the same number of leftover pieces from the second version of the All Geared Up quilt, which became a table runner. Same size flowers, but a bit smaller overall.

I love the gray fabrics in this, and the bike print is my favorite one from Around Town. And no, the fabric used in the petals is not from that line of fabric, nor is it one that I designed, although I wish I had because it is an awesome newspaper style print!

But I couldn't stop with just the runners. Nope. I had to make a single flower, which became a round table mat. On this one, I did turn the edges under for the applique because I used two different fabrics and didn't feel that it needed the extra piping around each petal.

Eventually, I would like to get around to making three more of these so I could use them as placemats, although I seriously doubt they will ever get done!

So, all of these are in one pattern, called Summer Fun.

I finally have all the new patterns on my website, which I have also be "freshening up", so let me know what you think!

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Now, on to a personal note.....

This definitely has been a roller coaster of a week.... Or has it been two? I can't seem to keep track of the time anymore. It just seems to be flying by. But here is what has been going on in our household to cause such upheaval for me.

At the beginning of August, my oldest son who recently graduated from Indiana university and has been living with us since December, was offered a job. Woo hoo! The big catch was that it was not in Indiana. Not even in the U.S. It is in South Korea. Now, he had been looking into this since graduating in May, and I can honestly say that I did not think it would really happen. But it did. So for the past several weeks, we have been getting all the documents filled out, submitted, sent to the proper places, purchasing the necessities to live in a different country for a year and hoping to get it all taken care of and stuffed into two large suitcases and a backpack in order to arrive in South Korea on time.

And he did. He flew out this past Sunday, and after two long days of anxiously waiting to hear from him, he was finally able to gain internet access (what did we do without all this technology??) and let us know that everything was ok. Granted, it was at 2 am, but it was definitely a huge relief. Then, a day later, our youngest moved back to college.

So, we are going through the whole "empty nest" adjustment for the second time. I will admit that I am finding it difficult knowing that one of my kids is halfway around the world, but am so thankful for Skype, computers, and instant messaging. All will be good in the end. They are both on adventures of a lifetime and I would never dream of taking that away.

It's just that the house is now so quiet. And sometimes that silence can be so deafening.....

2 Comments

Congrats Tami!! Love the flower runners, very cute.
Family changes are so hard, we feel one way, but know they need to live their life.
So funny seeing you in summer clothes as we are all rugged up for winter in New Zealand.

I love the new pattern, and the different fabrics you used, always love a pattern that can be done in different styles for different people. My son is married and has his own son now, so being a new grandma is fun. But, my daughter moved back in last month, so sometimes they come home;)